Emotional intelligence

Top leaders are getting in touch with their emotions and those of their staff as intuition and emotional intelligence become the hottest management buzzwords.

While the concept of emotional intelligence has been around since the 1980s, it didn't take off until 1995 when science writer Daniel Goleman published a book, Emotional Intelligence.

Now every second management course promises to improve managers' emotional intelligence and tests, similar to IQ exams, are being developed to rate a person's EQ.

The theory behind it is simple - today's leaders need to get the most out of their staff, as leadership becomes more about managing people and less about systems.That means recognising that emotions play an important role in the workplace - hassles at home and work result in a demoralised staff, while sometimes simple acts of kindness, like praise or attention, can lift people's moods and therefore their productivity.

University of Queensland Professor Neal Ashkanasy says the rising acceptance of the need for EQ may have to do with the increasing presence of female managers. "The whole idea of emotions has become a little bit more respectable with females in management positions," he said.

"It's an easy target in terms of the softness and fluffiness, but ... failure to recognise emotions in the workplace [can] reflect in a demoralised workforce."